It’s been a wild ride for truckie Wayne Howsan – from living in his truck without a cent to his name to owning a 100-acre ranch in Memphis, Tennessee.
The 60-year-old, who has been married six times, is originally from Mount Molloy in Queensland but moved to the US for love.
“After me and my third wife ended up divorcing, I decided to market myself worldwide, on all the dating sites,” Wayne told Big Rigs.
“A girl in Costilla, New Mexico got a hold of me so I decided to sell everything I had and head to America.”
But the move to the Land of Opportunity didn’t initially work out for Wayne, and he found himself completely broke.
“Here I was with a horse, a saddle and a few clothes, having to start all over again.
“I married the New Mexico girl, but I had no American licence, no work visa and no money.”
With very few options, Wayne got a job driving trucks locally, picking up and dropping off loads of hay.
When his American licence and green card finally came through, he started delivering to some big dairies in Texas.
Not used to the varied American climate and driving conditions, he got himself in some sticky situations while he learned the ropes.
“I remember going up on top of the Rocky Mountains to get a load of square bales,” he said.
“On the way in the morning it was 18 degrees below. I loaded 680 bales by myself, then as I was finishing strapping the load, a blizzard blew in.
“Me being from the Outback of Australia, I didn’t know any better and started to drive back down the mountain.
“I couldn’t understand why there was no traffic – well, I figured it out pretty quickly.”
With two feet of snow on the road and unable to see much of anything in front of him, Wayne had to crawl down the mountain in second gear.
“It took about four hours to go about 50 miles, but I made it to the bottom,” he laughed.
“A state trooper was there waiting – he had the road blocked off and couldn’t believe I had come down the mountain!”
Although Wayne was working hard, he wasn’t exactly rolling in money, which put a strain on his fourth marriage.
Pretty soon he was out on his ear again, and he ended up moving to Louisiana, where he got a job with a company called Bengal Transport.
“They based me in Shreveport, doing heavy haul and driving a Peterbilt,” he said.
“I was going all over the USA, getting paid to see the country.
“I was thinking about coming back to Australia when I was up in Arkansas doing a load and I stopped at a truck stop up near Fayetteville.
“Bugger me, if I didn’t come across my fifth wife to be.”
Wayne ditched trucking and he and his new bride ran a successful horse training business for eight years, raising her daughters and adopting two of her nieces.
Eventually, though, the call of the highway returned.
“I was getting burnt out, so I decided to get back in the truck,” he said.
“I was driving for a guy from Houston, Texas – but I was only in the thing for three weeks when my wife got herself a boyfriend.”
Again, Wayne had to start over – but this time he had nowhere to live.
Luckily, he landed a new job driving for an Aussie operator in Memphis, Tennessee, who had a 1999 Western Star sitting in his yard.
“We worked out a deal and I bought the truck from him,” he said.
“It was pretty rough, but with a bit of TLC it was able to head out and go work.
“I was now an owner-operator, but I had nowhere to live – so I lived in the truck for two years.”
It was a tough time for Wayne, but he built up enough savings that when he eventually met his sixth wife, they were able to buy property.
Not just any property, either – they now own 100 acres of land, with two barns and a beautiful house.
They’ve also got a 42-ft yacht, a herd of cattle, six horses, a tractor, a pickup truck, a SUV, a Jeep Renegade, and a Ford Bronco, if you’re asking.
“America really is the land of opportunity,” Wayne said.
“I’m very grateful for what I have built, and I’ve worked my ass off to get it.
“It helped that my sixth wife finally jerked me into line and taught me to manage my finances better.
“But I don’t believe that I would have what I have now if I’d stayed in Australia.”
Wayne still works for the same Aussie operator – a bloke called Andy Oberle, who runs Beltana Transport.
Since buying the Western Star, he has rebuilt the engine and put a heavy duty Peterbilt backend on the truck with a pusher axle, making it suitable for heavy haulage work.
“I do oversized loads, heavy haul, big machinery and tanks,” he said.
“Andy’s got a fleet of different types of trailers and any job that comes up, we’re able to bid on it.
“He charges me 25 per cent to use his trailers and I’m happy with that.”
Now 20 years in the US, Wayne has adapted well and said there are a lot of positives to being a truckie over there.
“We’re very spoiled in the US – these guys have no idea,” he said.
“You don’t have to carry any spare tyres on your truck over here because there’s a truck stop every 30 miles or so.
“And there are tyre guys who come out and fix your tyre on the side of the road and you get going again. It’s that easy.
“If you get a flat tyre in the outback, you’ve got to pull up, jack up your truck and do it all yourself.”
He encourages young Aussies to go to the US and get a taste of trucking life over there.
“If anyone had an opportunity to come over here and get into the trucking industry, they should come and experience it,” he said.
“There are visa programs, for the harvest season for example.
“Then if you meet an American girl and you fall in love, well, you can live happily ever after.”
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